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Decade of Destruction.

Chronicles the devastation of the Amazonia rainforest from 1980 to 1990 - perhaps this century's worst environmental disaster. 55 min. ea.Episode 1. In the Ashes of the Forest. A Brazilian settler's two sons are murdered and another is kidnapped by Indians. While a government expedition searches for the child, the colonists' expansion continues to encroach on the Indians. Landless peasants are lured to the forest with promises of free land and big harvests. By the decade's end, the fate of the kidnapped boy is learned; an epidemic kills many of the Indians; the settler's farms have failed; and more than 15% of the rainforest has been destroyed. ; Episode 2. Killing for Land. This program follows the land wars that have broken out as millions of poor farmers migrate to massive ranches carved out of the rainforest by rich speculators with the aid of tax exemptions and government loans. As squatters they begin to work the land until the absentee landlords hire gunmen to frighten them off. The squatters take up arms themselves, and the result is a lawless gun battle. ; Episode 3. Mountains of Gold This episode focuses on Jova, who is famous among his colleagues for his illegal gold strikes, as he plays hide and seek with the security forces of Brazil's largest mining multi-national. Mining's long range impact on the rainforest is likely to be the center of future controversy in the Amazon. ; Episode 4. The Killing of Chico Mendes. This episode focuses on Chico Mendes, leader of the rubber-tappers, who sacrificed his life in his fight to preserve the forest. Since his murder Mendes has become a symbol of the struggle between the rubber-tappers and the landowners. As a result of Chico's activism twelve "extraction reserves" with more than 5 million acres are being created in the most promising development to have come out of Amazonia in the 1980s. ;
web web sites:Description of the video from Bullfrog Films catalog
Full-text review from:ABC-CLIO Video Rating Guide for Libraries